Fight ! Fight !

The boy, aged two, is seen crying after being punched in the face by the three-year-old girl and is told by one of the four women in the room "not to be a wimp or a faggot" and to hit her back. The four women, all from the same family, are heard laughing as the toddlers are urged to keep on fighting.

When the boy tries to get away and climb into an armchair, the women shout at the girl to punch him again. She does and the boy is urged to fight back, but says: "No, I don't want to."

The girl leaves the room, and when she comes back the two are taunted and told to fight again.

The court heard that when interviewed by police, one of the women said: "I didn't see any harm in toughening them up. I done the same with my own children."

Women that believe that this method of child-rearing is in any way acceptable should be sterilised, and their existing children taken into care. There is no excuse for the state taking the risk that children will continue to be at risk from suc people just because they are able to produce more.